impostor syndrome
or im·post·er syn·drome
[ im-pos-ter sin-drohm ]
nounPsychology.
anxiety or self-doubt that results from persistently undervaluing one’s competence and active role in achieving success, while falsely attributing one's accomplishments to luck or other external forces.
Origin of impostor syndrome
1Coined in 1978 by Pauline Rose Clance (born 1938) and Suzanne Imes (born 1944), U.S. psychologists, in a psychology journal article “The Imposter Phenomenon in High Achieving Women: Dynamics and Therapeutic Intervention”
- Also called im·pos·tor phe·nom·e·non, im·post·er phe·nom·e·non [im-pos-ter fuh-nom-uh-non] /ɪmˈpɒs tər fəˌnɒm əˌnɒn/ .
- Compare Dunning-Kruger effect.
Words Nearby impostor syndrome
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use impostor syndrome in a sentence
This is probably some combination of impostor syndrome and midwestern overpoliteness, or maybe I’m just not that smart.
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